Bill To Beef-Up State Rainy Day Fund

The state senate unanimously passed a law Wednesday that would let more money go into the state’s rainy day fund.

At the start of the recession two years ago, Georgia had $1.7 billion in reserve.

Today there’s just $100 million in the account. Chairman of Senate Appropriations Republican Jack Hill says it could have been more, but the state was limited to collecting just 10 percent of the previous year’s budget. His bill raises the cap to 15 percent.

"What I think raising the percent does is give us a target to give us a robust reserve that will help should we have another recession," says Hill.

Faced with a billion dollar budget shortfall, the state doesn’t have much extra revenue to put away right now says Hill. When the economy picks up, he says, Georgia should be able to store more funds.